Indicating system for refrigerators



Feb. 19, 1929.

F. J. SCHROEDER INDICATING SYSTEM FOR REFRIGERATORS Filed Nov. 18, 1927Hank I schroeder M Vi-7 Wney Patented Feb. 19, 192 9.

UNITED STATES.

1,703,068 PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK J. SC'HROEDER, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

mmoa'rme sYs'mm r03 nnrmenmrons.

Application filed l lovember 18,1927. SerialNo. 234,255.

"The object of this invention is to providea form of mechanism that willautomatically indicate the amount of icethere is in the customersrefrigerator or ice box at all times and thus improve 'andrsimplify thepresent system in use by the ice companies usingice cards to indicatethe wishes of the customer as to when anew supply of ice is needed.Thisinvention therefore does away with all the troubles of the use ofice cards both for the'consumers and the delivery man, as theindicatorused in connection with the mechanism is automatic in operationand is constantly in full view of the ice man as he passes the house andindicatesto him whether ice is needed or not. i p

- Afurther. objectof the invention is to indicate the capacityof therefrigerator in the house to relieve the ice man from memorizing thecustomers needs as it is always indicated bythe indicator as he passesthe house.

These and other objects of this invention will be fully illustrated inthe drawing, described in'the specification and pointed out in theclaims at the end thereof.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation'and partial sectional View of arefrigerator provided with the automatic indicating mechanism and itsinstallation in the house. p

Figure'2 is a'partial top plan. View and horizontal'section' of {therefrigerator provided with the indicating mechanism.

Figure 3 is a detail perspective view of the indicator used inconnection with the automatic indicating system. I

Figure & is a detail perspective view of-the apart of the indicatingmechanism" that'is mounted in the refrigerator. 1 j

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the follower arm and itsguide tube, the sec- 7 tion being taken on the line 5", 5 of Figure 4.

In the several figures of the drawing, like reference numerals indicatelike partsl In the present day indicating system used by ice companiesfor the purpose of 'replenishing the-consumerssupply of ice in the.

refrigerator, so-called" ice cards are used.

These cards are hung'by the customer inffa' conspicuous place that isvisiblefrom'the'out-v side of the house to indicate to the ice manwhenever he passes the house that ice is needed in the ice box. Aconstant supply of icein the refrigeratorthus depends on thecustomerbeingaware" that a new isup lyis needed so that theice card willbe d'sp 'ufacturer or distributor.

on the house to indicate to the ice man'that more ice is needed. Manytimes the customer fails to display the card until after the ice man haspassed the house and a special trip of the ice man is then necessary toreplenish the supply of ice. Then too, the customer maybe absent fromthe house for one or more days'in-which case all the food will spoil inthe refrigerator because of lack of ice; The old method of usingicec'ards to indicate the supply of ice needed is thus inefficient forboth the consumer as well as for the ice manmechanism forming thesubject matter of my present lnvention is adapted to make the indicationautomatic so as to relieve the customer from the responsibility ofknowing just when and how much ice is needed in the refrigerator. Y y 1As illustrated in the several figures of the includes the mechanismwhich is mountedin the refrigerator and consists of a tubular:

guide 1. This guide is preferably mounted in the corner of therefrigerator and extends The indicating drawing, the automaticindicating system The upper end spaces the tubular guide therefrom. Thej lower end of the tubular guide is threaded and this end projects thruan opening in the bottom 4 of the refrigerator so that a nut 5 can beused to draw the c'ollar .6 provided on the tubular guide downonto thebottom 4 whenever the tubular guide hasto pass thru an intermediatepartition or bottom 10 in the refrigerator. This second collar and itswasher is also drawn tight against the bottom and serves to sealthe'opening thru which the tubular guide projects. 1 1 1 The upperportion of the tubular guide 1 is provided with a vertical guide slot 11which preferablyiextends the full length of the ice compartment of therefrigerator. A- short horizontal slot 12 branches ofi from the verticalslot near the upper endthereof for a purpose that will presently appear.The followgr arm 13;is adapted-to slide up and down on the tubular guide1 and for this purpose is provided with the hub M- at the inner end thruwhich the tubular guide can pass. On the inside the hub is provided witha small radial projection or pin which extends radially into the openingin the hub and is adapted to engage into the guide slot 11 when thefollower arm is mounted on the tubular guide. In this way the followingarm is held to project from the tubular guide in a predetermineddircction which, as illustrated in the drawing, is preferably diagonalto the ice compartment so as to project over the block of ice 16 placedin the ice compartment 2 as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The followerarm 13, of course has to be moved aside whenever a ncw supply ofice is inserted into the ice compartment. This is done by raising thefollower arm until the pin 15 in the hub of the arm can engage into thehorizontal slot 12 allowing the arm to be swung aside parallel againstthe wall of the ice compartment as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure2.

After the new supply of ice has been placed into the comj'iartment, thearm is swung back in place over the block of ice and allowed toconstantly rest on top of it. [is the ice melts and reduces the size,the follower arm follows the gradually diminishing block of ice untilthe arm is halted from further movement'by the adjustable collarfastened on the tubular guide at a predetermined point above the bottomof the ice compartment,

To automatically indicate the constantly diminishing size of the icesupply in the refrigerator on the outside of the house by means of thefollower arm 13 a wire or cable 18 is attached to the pin 15 of thefollower arm by means of an expansion spring 19. This wire and spring islocated on the inside of the tubular guide 1 and extendsthru the openend of the guide to the swinging arm 20 to which it is fastened. Thisarm is adapted to swing on the pivot pin 21 carried by the bracket 22.The bracket and arm are mounted below the floor of the kitchen where therefrigerator is located and a small hole 23 in the floor allows thecable or wire 18 to pass from the tubularguide 1 to the end of the arm20., In thearm 20 is fastened an adjustable clamp 2 1 to which anotherwire or cable 25 V is fastened. This second cable extends to the an armwhich projects rearwardly from the casing 31 and when mounting thecasing'to the outside of the wall, a hole is drilled into described.dicat-orproper. The pulley 28 is carried by the wall toallow the armwith its pulley to project into the Wall.

Theindicator casing 81 is suitably mount- 7 ed to the wall, and withinit is mounted the indicator weight 30. This weight has suitably fastenedthereto the indicator plate 32 which is provided with a narrow arm thatprojects to one side thru the slot to the top of themdicator weight towhich it is suitably fastened. v I As the indicator weight within thecasing falls, the indicator plate on the outside of the casing fallswith it and by. its position indicates the amount of ice needed toreplenish the supply in the refrigerator as will presently appear. Onthe front face of the indicator casing 31 are the marks 00, Half and100. Of

these the marking 00 is at the top of the indicator casing so that whenthe lower edge I dicating system is used is 100 pounds. For

smaller refrigerators the 100.1nark wouldbe replaced by the capacityinthe number of pounds that the refrigerator is rated. Thus arefrigerator having an ice capacity of but 5O pounds would have amarking of 50at the bottom of theindicator casing showing that a newsupply of 50 pounds of ice is needed to replace the original supply thathas melted away.

i The adjustable collar 17 of course, does not allow'the follower arm todrop below acertain point on the tubular guide 1 and the position of ths collar, and the movement of the indicator plate with relation to themovement of the followerarm is so adj usted thatat the point where thefollower arm is halted by the collar 17. a small supply of ice is stillleft within the ice con'ipartment in spite of the fact that theindicator shows that anentirely new supply of ice is needed in therefrigerator.

before a new supply is placed in the refrigerator. The weightin theindicator casing thru the cables 25 and 18 andthe spring 19 keeps thefollower arm constantly on top of This is to avoid having all of the icemelted the gradually melting ice supplyand asthe ice melts the weightdrops in the indicator cas ng giving the resulting indication above Thespring 19 is adapted to allow the lower arm to be raised even afterthein' dicator weight has reachedits uppermost position. The position ofthe follower arm in ice compartment will not change this indication ofthe indicator.

In the winter time or at any time when no ice is wanted, the followerarm may be kept in the elevated dotted line position to indicate that noice is wanted.

The adjustable clamp 24 on the arm 20 is placed in the proper positionin which the range of movement of the follower arm will be translated byit into the range of move-- ment of the indicator weight and itsindicator plate. The indicator plate may be made large enough to havethe name of the ice company delivering the ice located on it so that theuse of this indicating system serves as an advertisement for the icecompany using it.

It will be seen from an inspection of the drawing that the constructionand operation of the follower arm and its mounting is such that it canbe readily installed in all types of refrigerators whether the ice dooris located on the side, top or end of the refrigerator. Y

I claim: v

1. In an ice supply indicating system for refrigerators, the combinationof a stationary guide member located within the refrigerator,

a follower arm mounted-to slide down on said guide member and adapted torest on top of the ice supply in the refrigerator, an indicator, andmeans for transmitting the motion of said follower arm to saidindicator.

2. In an ice supply indicating system for. refrigerators, thecombination of a tubular guide member having a vertical guide slot witha. horlzontal extension 1n the slot near the top thereof, a follower armadapted .to

slide up and downon said tubular guidememher, a guide pin carried bysaid followerarm lar guide member,.and allow said followerarm to swingto one side of the fixed position on the engagement of said pin into thehorizontal extension of said guide slot, a spring attached to thefollower arm within said tubular guide member, a cable attached tosaid'spring, a swinging arm pivoted below said refrigerator, said cablebeing attached to the end of said arm, an adjustable clamp carriedintermediate of said arm, a second cableattached to said adjustable armat one end thereof, an indicator weight attached to said second cable atits other end thereof, an indicator housing surrounding said indicatorweight the movement of saidindicator weight within said indicatorhousing being controlled by the movement of said follower arm thru saidfirst and second cable. 7

3. In an ice supply indicating system for refrigerators, the combinationof a tubular guide member having a vertical guide slot with a horizontalextension in the slot near the top thereof, a follower arm adapted toslide up and down on said tubular guide member, a guide pin carried bysaid follower arm andadapted to engage into said guide slot to hold saidfollower arm" fixed in a predetermined position during its travel onsaid tubular guide member, and allow said follower arm to swing to oneside of the fixed position on the engagement of said pin into thehoriried intermediate of said arm, a second cable attached to saidadjustable arm with one end thereof, an indicator weight attached tosaid second cable at its other end thereof, an indicator housingsurrounding said indicator weight the movement of said indicator weightwithin said indicator housing being controlled by the movement of saidfollower arm thru said first and second cable, and means for limitingthe movement of said follower arm in one direction.

.zontal extension of said guide slot, a spring In testimony whereof Ia'flix my signature.

FRANK J. SOHROEDER.

